Barbara Jean Kemp

She was a proud graduate of Joel Elias Spingarn High School in the District of Columbia. She married the late Leroy Kemp in 1961. Barbara worked for the Department of Defense for 31 years until retirement.

Barbara had the extraordinary ability to recall specific events and retell stories about DC happenings over the years. She often shared her experiences with family and friends on how DC neighborhoods had transformed into buzzing destinations. If you ever tried to argue a DC fact with her, the response was always “you’re lying to me.”

In addition to loving the city, Barbara loved family. She totally understood that family ties were precious things forged in childhood days by love of parents. She displayed that love in times of distress, challenges and uncertainties for that is who she was.

She is survived by two sisters, Wanda Hughes Page, Burtonsville, MD, Helen Hughes Amore, Silver Spring, MD, and one brother, Gerald Wendell Hughes, (Joyce) of Hyattsville, MD. She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Florence Hughes, a sister, Shirley Hughes Poole and a brother, William Augustus Hughes, Jr. She also leaves a host of cousins, nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews and friends to cherish her precious memories.